We put a lot of time working with Jon Modica on this design and we're really happy with it. I will say that the most important part of your Alaia will be the boards flex. FLEX is what makes kiting the Alaia so much fun and unique as compared to other boards. With that said I also feel very strongly that you will need to glass your board. I say this because breaking an Alaia while trying to land an air or laying hard into a wave is the worst feeling ever. I've broken two, and i've switched over to glassing my boards so I don't have to worry about it. The issue is, if you glass your board, don't make it too stiff, otherwise it will feel more like a skimboard and less like a magic carpet.

We're making new batch soon and will be playing around with making the board super thin, so that after glassing it has the same flex as a un-glassed paulownia board.

stay tuned over at Waterlust for updates as we will be shooting a sequel to Woodsled that showcases the latest and greatest in Alaia shredding!

This Alaia board thing is very appealing. I have already rearranged my building plans for this winter
Alaia will come in first
However, I intend to do it as a composite board (2,5 mm Paulownia or Okoume ply-sheets, fiberglass, epoxy,...).
So basically I will have to start with a new rocker table with implemented concave, angled rails and other shape features.

I wanted to ask you all, what kind of tail shape would you chose?
1. straight tail with no transition to the straight rail (90 angle) -like Naish seems to have
2. rounded transition between tail and rail, with some cut-outs on the tail- like in waterlust page
3. no transition, with some tail cut-outs
4. any other combinations

To everyone out there, like me, who has not got the artistic talent for shaping by hand and getting a pretty concave and rail I offer up the following solution: Build or buy a router sled. Google and YouTube it. I'm sure that you'll see the potential like I did.

I just finished building my first Alaia and I just used plain 4" pine boards from Home Depot -- no sense ruining a bunch of nice paulownia for a first try. The router sled allowed me to cut the concave very precisely. I started in the middle and set the router to the deepest part of the concave. I ran it right down the middle of the board. Then, I moved the router up slightly and worked my way out to the rail in gradual increments. What I ended up with was a series of "steps" from the center of the board out to the rail. Then, I used 5 inch disc sander in a regular electric power drill. The disc sander allowed me to smooth out the "stepped" edges into a smooth curve very quickly and easily. The disc sander naturally lends itself to curves. This makes it very easy for someone like me, or you, who does not deal well with curves and organic shapes to end up with a nice smooth and curved concave bottom. While the router does take some time, it saves baton of time sanding.

Another awesome thing about the router sled is the ability to plane down the entire board to the thickness you desire. After I had carved out the concave in the bottom of the board and gotten the rails the way I like them, the board was still too thick. I had started with 1 inch thick boards, and quickly realized that I needed to plane it down to about half an inch-thick or less. All I had to do was flip the board over so that the top of the board was facing up, set my router depth to the depth that I desired, and plane back and forth. Once again (using a 1/2 inch router bit) this takes quite a bit of time, but the reward is perfectly even thickness from tip to tail. It only took about five minutes with the belt sander and 80 grit sandpaper to remove the slight ridges that are left over after using the router as a planer. Now I have a nice board with a ton of flex and even thickness.

I wish I had thought to take pictures of the process as I made the board, but I did not. Next time for sure! Take a look at some videos on YouTube on how to use a router as a planer and you'll see just how easy it is to build a router sled.

Hi Speed,
The sled surely made a good job, but in my case I just wanted to do something completelly hand made, not for arts or other stuff....
After an whole day spent in office and traffic jam, when all my family get asleep, I get a beer, and go sanding my stick.
Just love the wood curl coming out from the handplaner...